All the stars
by chloemcg
Summary: Nalu One-shot. On the night of the anniversary of her mother's death, Lucy runs away from the guild to have some time alone with her thoughts yet Natsu refuses to let her deal with this alone.


**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters of Fairy tail, the rights to the characters belongs to Hiro Mashima AND NOT ME!**

 **All the stars**

* * *

It was a beautiful night Earthland and the country of Magnolia, where the famous wizards of the Fairy tail guild resided, was The night was calm and quiet as evening gave way for dusk, the sky was coloured a hue of deep Prussian blue mixed with a tint of violet and the skies were mostly clear and flawless, with the exception of the twinkling stars; yet apart from that there were no clouds, no wind, not even a single hint of a crisp Autumn scent in the air.

A meadow untouched by the citizens of Magnolia that stood just outside the small city was looking especially lovely —the grass was tall and coloured a bright teal colour, the trees were left stripped of their leaves which had all but fallen to the ground by this point and small closing blooms of flowers poked out from the tall, pointed blades as they were beginning to die off to prepare for the oncoming winter season. All was serene and quite at peace.

Or it was until the calm and quiet was disturbed by a lone woman running across the calm, quiet, lush meadow.

Her name was Lucy Heartfillia of the famous Fairy tail guild.

Lucy ran as fast as her legs could carry her, her lungs were burning for oxygen and her cheeks felt hot and sticky from all the tears that had cascaded down them, her eyes felt as though they were on fire which forced her to squint them so much that they were inches away from closing completely. Her heart felt like it was being shattered and ripped from the inside out and more and more tears threatened to spill from her swollen, puffy and bloodshot eyeballs.

Why was she crying, why wasn't she at the guild?

The answer to those two questions were simple —it was the anniversary of her mother's untimely passing.

She woke up that morning in a state of anxiousness, wondering whether it would be a good idea to just call in sick and just avoid the guild altogether for the day but quickly decidedly against it; she couldn't just afford to stay home all day and mope just because of the occasion! Besides, perhaps a good distraction at Fairy tail would make her feel better...plus she was practically penniless for the moment and needed a good amount of pay in order to pay her landlady. The Celestial wizard wasted no time and got herself made up and ready to head for the guild, however she felt a knot form in the base of her throat —it was this flimsy knot that held all her emotions together.

She quickly found that keeping her emotions under control was a lot harder upon arriving at the guild.

When she actually got to Fairy tail, Lucy tried her best to force the biggest smile possible but a few of her friends that knew her far too well had quickly noticed the fact that she was seeming a "a bit off" as they put it; maybe the bloodshot eyes, obvious tear stains lining her cheeks and the way she unusually slumped way she carried herself had something to do with it and it didn't take too long for her emotions to overwhelm her when her friends at the guild swarmed her to try and ferret out what happened.

Lucy appreciated their concern but she just couldn't bare this sort of unwanted attention. On regular days she would be able to defuse the situation by simply asking for the other guild members to back off and letting her have her space.

However she just wasn't in the correct state of mind to think rationally.

She quickly decided to abandon her plan to force her feelings away and she broke down into a blubbery mess right there on the spot as that same troublesome knot decided to unravel right there and then. Tears cascaded down her cheeks, sticking to her hot-as-magma-cheeks like glue as she let her emotions take complete control. Her lower lip quivered, her heart snapped in two, her chest felt as though it was crushing her from the inside-out and the palms of her hands had sweat seeping through them both. She didn't know how to keep her rampaging emotions in check anymore and she lost all her nerve right then and there.

She really tried not to cry again but the emotions she tried to corral and bottle up had decided to try and break free of their restraints, thus breaking through their barrier and letting Lucy's knotted throat wobble and letting her emotions leak on to her face. Lucy fought to contain the tears that were now starting to seep through her bloodshot eyeballs and swiftly raised a hand to cover her mouth since it was all she could do to not break down into a sobbing mess.

Of course everybody had noticed her tears starting to appear and had instantly taken to asking her what the matter was; this was the straw that broke the camels back for the struggling Celestial wizard. Realising her bravado had failed her, she turned around and made a beeline towards the double doors. It left several confused and concerned onlookers in her wake and she could feel her heart crumble into dust as she finally let the tears gush down her face in seemingly-endless rivulets...however she never once noticed that her display had caught the attention of a certain pinkette and his flying feline friend.

Lucy had no idea how long that was but she couldn't bring herself to care.

The Celestial mage kept running through the meadow, panting heavily through gnashed teeth but she didn't care, she just wanted to get far away so she could be alone for awhile. She felt like the muscles in her legs were being torn apart with each and every step she took and her lungs were feeling like someone had set them on fire and she had been forced to shut her eyes due to the fact that her eyeballs stung because of how much she had cried.

This proved to be a huge mistake.

She didn't know what it was but her foot got caught on something —maybe it was a stray vine— and she was sent hurtling towards the ground below before she could even register what was happening. She gasped and squeeze her shut eyes tighter to brace herself for the impending impact and was promptly greeted by the cold feeling of grass and dirt as well as the same feeling one would get if they were to be punched in the face. She grunted painfully as she crashed hard to the ground below, in spite of the soft feeling of the grass trying to break her fall.

"Oof!"

Lucy just lay on the ground for a few moments whilst she tried to open her eyes but she was still in a slight daze after what just happened and her corneas continued to feel as though they were being repeatedly pierced by microscopic needles. She groaned softly; she probably had grass stains on her top and she had an inkling that her hair was taking a dunk in the dirt and also getting covered in green smears. The mere thought caused her to grimace slightly.

"Lucy!"

Lucy felt her heart freeze with dread and instinctively jerked back and scrambled to sit up the instant she heard someone call her name. Had someone decided to go after her after she ran out of the guildhall? She was half tempted to facepalm at her own thoughtlessness. Why hadn't she anticipated this? It was kind of an obvious outcome that she sort of saw coming! She rushed to try and compose herself but she also felt the subconscious urge to grab her satchel that contained her precious keys —just encase this mysterious newcomer posed a threat.

"Are you okay?" The voice asked her quietly.

The Celestial wizard turned around and found a pair of familiar onyx eyes looking at her, soft with compassion. She blinked her tear-blurred eyes, the tears continued to trickle down but she made a quick attempt at trying to dry them away by swiftly rubbing her face with her forearm. She had never thought that Natsu would find her but then again she supposed that he _did_ have his excellent sense of hearing and smell that was more than likely used to track her.

"N-Natsu...?"

The two Fairy tail mages shared an uncomfortable silence as Natsu didn't appear to be fooled in the slightest. His brows furrowed and his eyes narrowed and he tilted his head towards the left in a slight tilt. He stared at Lucy's face for ages until he gently reached forwards and grabbed Lucy's cheek and he quickly felt the lingering dampness to it beneath his palm. The woman tried to back away from the spiky, pink-haired, Dragon slayer's touch but he kept a good grip on her burning hot, damp cheek.

"Luce...? Tell me what's wrong." Natsu demanded gently.

 _There was no point in trying to conceal it...he wasn't going to be fooled..._

Lucy started to break down into sobs and sniffles, huge tears trying desperately to make a break for it and cascade down her face. She was finding it increasingly difficult to keep her emotions in for much longer although she knew full well that her feelings couldn't be fenced in like a herd of wild stallions however she didn't want them to go on a wild rampage either.

Natsu was both unnerved and concerned for the Celestial wizard.

"Woah! That must have been quite a fall!" He exclaimed in surprise, crouching down to meet his fallen comrade on eye level.

Lucy kept herself seated on the ground and turned her face away from him, closing her eyes and hugging herself to keep the gentle gusts of autumn wind from quite literally chilling her to the bone because she didn't want to have to deal with being cold on top of everything else —this was just her luck. Out of all of her friends to go after her, why did it have to be Natsu? She just couldn't stand to face _him_ when she was in this state...

Natsu didn't say a word as he gently reached over and furled his left arm around her, wrapping the well-toned appendage securely around her shoulder, and he steadily got to his own two feet whilst he hefted the young woman up so she could stand on her own two feet as well.

It turned out that Lucy's concerns about her appearance were justified since she did (indeed) have teal/green stains from the grass marking her face, hair and clothes. She couldn't bring herself to care, though, as the Dragon slayer leaned closer to her and studied her depressed expression as though he were carefully examining a piece of artwork for a speck of dirt or some sort of imperfection that he didn't want to find.

The more he studied her, the more it appeared to dawn on Natsu that this was more then simple injury. "Wait...I don't think this has anything to do with your fall. Did something happen?"

Lucy couldn't talk and limply shook her head, her eyes always glued to the ground beneath her. She just felt this bottomless sorrow and pain and she privately felt ashamed of herself; she knew that she was better then this and could (and should) be handling this better then she was right now but she couldn't break out of that deep, dark pit of despair. Would her mother be ashamed of her right now...? She chewed her bottom lip to contain her tears.

A moment passed.

Natsu frowned and sighed holding his arms out to silently invite her in for a hug.

It was an invitation that Lucy didn't even hesitate to accept.

"N-N-Natsuuuu...!" She squeaked, lurching at the dragon slayer with massive tears forming in her eyes. She thrown her arms around him and buried her tear-filled face into his chest as she cried hard and the magma-hot tears flowed down her cheeks in little streams. The pinkette was caught off-guard by the intensity of her throwing herself at him but he quickly wrapped his arms around her sobbing form.

He stroked her back soothingly.

Lucy feebly looked into the salmon-haired dragon slayer's deep and brave obsidian eyes and snuggled even closer into the comforting warmth of his bare chest, she let out a soft murmur of contentment as she gripped tightly to his silk black vest with as much strength as she could muster despite her intense trembling. He looked down at the young woman in his arms with pure concern, she wasn't ever this clingy and delicate. It made the Dragon slayer's heart sink into the pit of his stomach and he couldn't help but feel emotions born of pure rage and confusion as well as worry swirl inside his mind.

How could something hurt such a strong and beautiful woman such as her? What could have possibly happened to make her so depressed?

Natsu put on a thoughtful face as he seemed to think long and hard, actually it physically hard to make the gears inside his brain work so much; Lucy heard the fire Dragon slayer thinking and randomly wondered whether it were possible for smoke to blow from somebody's ears. She didn't know but, since Natsu was a _**fire**_ wizard, it might have been possible. He thought long and hard for what felt like centuries until his eyes lit up as though a thought snapped into his head.

Finally he asked, "Lucy...does this have anything to do with your parents?"

Lucy noted the softness in his voice and managed a feeble nod.

"...Mother...anniversary...death..." Were the only intelligible words that Lucy could utter as she buried her face into his chest and cried for all she was worth. That was all it took for Natsu to make sense of it all and he couldn't help but feel nostalgia hit him as he held Lucy just like this back when Éclair had died during their adventure back in the country of Veronica.

Natsu could feel his own heart tremble violently as he held Lucy tightly, cradling her sobbing and uncharacteristically fragile form in his arms as he held her fast and tight. She was never this sensitive before and he'd normally crack a joke about someone being so mushy however he knew that he needed to handle this delicately. He didn't know much about comforting someone but he did know that he had to cheer her up before she drowned in her own tears and despair.

"Hey, hey, hey, hey...c'mon...it's alright, I'm right here..." He whispered, mustering the most soothing tone he could and he planned to hold her for as long as it would take; and it took awhile until Lucy had finally cried herself to the point where there were no tears left.

He asked in that same quiet yet hushed whisper, "You wanna know what I do when life gets me down?"

Lucy sniffled and nodded her head whilst trying to blink her eyes to rid herself of the lingering tears that threatened to fall. She hadn't meant to cry so hard but she couldn't help it because her heart felt as though it was just trying to break apart. She could feel as the Dragon slayer gently slid his finger beneath her chin and she quickly found herself looking deep into those deep, dark obsidian eyes that felt so sheltering and protective. She bit her lower lip again and tried to suck back the remaining tears that tried to spill fourth from her deep coffee brown eyes.

The Celestial wizard was completely caught off-guard when Natsu took his own hand and placed it atop her head and started to ruffle her blonde hair.

"I try and remember all the good things I've got."

Lucy finally looked Natsu in the eye and saw that a very subtle smile had made his lips curl slightly upwards. He had this confidence shining in his cool obsidian eyes and she felt her heart grow slightly warm at the sight of it, it was a look that she would seek out whenever she was scared and it was normally enough to calm her fears.

The Celestial mage raised her arm and proceeded to wipe her own stray tears away and tried to take deep breaths to calm herself. She had to calm down because she couldn't risk getting herself dehydrated or anything, especially when she didn't know how far away she was from civilisation.

Then, without any warning whatsoever, Natsu swooped his arms beneath his blonde-haired teammate and proceeded to pick her up and then carry her bridal-style. Lucy let out a startled "yeep" noise as she tried to get used to the feeling of suddenly being picked up and she felt struck by a sense of impending doom when she saw a rather wry and evil smirk flash across the Pinkette's lips whilst he mischievously looked down at the her.

He craned his neck and leaned down to whisper in her ear.

"Hold on tight."

Lucy face contorted into an expression of pure horror as her face went pale, her eyes widened and her brows shot up. She could feel dread settle in the pit of her stomach and she felt a huge tremor trickle down her spinal chord.

Just what was Natsu planning?

Out of instinct she grabbed on tight to the pink-haired mage and tried her best to control her overwhelming fear and then, without another word, jets of flames shot out of the bottoms of Natsu's feet and it launched the both of them up high into the air like a rocket. Lucy felt her heart leap into her throat and all the oxygen was sucked out from her chest and lungs due to how intense the rush was, she felt her insides become mush and the only thing she could manage was a shrill shriek of terror as she clung on tight to Natsu's neck for dear life and buried her face into the creasing fabric of his scaly scarf.

Out of pure fear and not wanting to endure having her eyeballs pop out from the intense speed, she squeezed her eyelids shut and prayed silently that the rush would be over.

"...You can open your eyes now."

Lucy reluctantly did as she was told and opened her eyes but was instantly floored when she did.

Surrounding both Natsu and herself was a beautiful plain filled with glowing pale blue/silver spheres that floated in the air, in fact they appeared to have been stars. The stars around her were so close that it appeared that she could touch them, they twinkled brightly and they appeared to have been brighter then ever before. To her, the stars appeared to have been little balls of shining lights that floated in midair. Out of pure curiosity, the Stellar Fairy tail mage reached out to try and touch one of the twinkling bright lights although she was dumbstruck when her hand practiced passed right through it. It was as if to these glowing balls of light, Natsu nor herself were even there.

Even though Lucy's eyes were still bloodshot, puffy and stinging slightly, she couldn't help but be amazed by the spectacular view that surrounded her. She flew with Happy's assistance before but somehow with Natsu it was different, it felt like it had way more emancipationsand it was more breathtaking —she saw his onyx eyes glint in the starlight and (as his grin broadened) as did the tips of his sharp fangs and, to her, the sights all combined together were more beautiful then any constellation in the universe could ever hope to be.

Lucy subconsciously loosened her hold on Natsu's neck a bit as her fear dissipated. She stared in wonder at the glowing star-like spheres which somewhat reminded her of lacrimas that hovered in midair and, seeing such beauty, made her break out into the smallest of smiles.

She gasped in awe, "Woooow...it's so beautiful..."

However, as the moments slipped by into a full minute, she noticed something change about Natsu: His strong and muscular arms seemed to weaken and become a bit clammy —even though his body temperature was normally hotter then the average persons, the flames shooting out from the soles of his sandled-feet started to lessen and flicker with not as much strength as they had done a minute or so ago, his breathing seemed to grow heavier as though he were putting more effort into something.

Lucy looked up and saw that Natsu was sweating heavily as he seemed to grow tired quickly.

She eyed the Fire wizard worriedly. "N-Natsu? Are you alright?"

"I'm... _hngh_...I'm okay," He panted and huffed, giving her a not-so-reassuring weakened fanged grin "I'm just not used to... _ngh_...using this much energy in one go, flying like this really takes it out of me..."

That made sense. Natsu probably wouldn't be able to propel himself like this for long due to how much magic energy it would probably use up; if the pink-haired man ever did want to keep himself airborne independently then it would probably have to be for minutes at a time due to how taxing using such magic power would be and due to how he didn't use it too often. So using his fire to make himself into a human rocket would more then likely have to be used sparingly in his case.

Lucy nodded and clung on tight to Natsu, taking one last look at the beautiful starry view that beheld them, and was as quick as possible to lower both himself and the Stellar wizard he was carrying in his arms back down to the waiting meadow below them. It wasn't as intense as before (thank goodness) and she was pleasantly surprised to realise that she felt much better then she had a few minutes ago.

The fire wizard with the pink, spiky hair heaved a huge sigh that was a mix of easement and relief as the fires beneath his feet died out just as both Natsu and Lucy were hovering a few inches above the ground and they plopped to the ground safely.

Natsu grabbed Lucy's arm and gently lowered her down towards the ground so she could sit and recover for a bit since she looked like she needed a few moments to gather her thoughts. Natsu just continued to stand, stretch his muscles and bask in the cool night air to recover from his hot flush that came about because of his slight over exertion of magic power.

Yet another few awkward minutes of silence passed the two Fairy tail wizards by while they just stood/sat there quietly.

Lucy sighed as she glanced down, a hint of nostalgia shimmering in her eyes. She still couldn't help but miss her mother in spite of everything and she was thankful that her friend was there and was trying to distract her from her pain...even though it was all hard to cope with. She huddled up, bringing her knees to her chest, and rested her chin on top of her knees as she looked down at her feet.

But her mood shift didn't go unnoticed by Natsu.

"Hey...what's the matter?" He asked, looking down at her with worry for the second time tonight.

Lucy looked back up and forced a half-hearted smile upon her lips. She didn't want to seem like a total downer, especially not after Natsu went to all that effort to make her happy just moments ago. She smoothed a portion of the sadness from her voice and tried to reassure him while she waved her hand in a dismissive manner.

"I...I'm fine, Natsu, don't worry."

Natsu (again) wasn't buying it in the slightest as he just exhaled through his nostrils and sat down beside her. He seemed to ponder on what to say or do next when he seemed to be struck by an idea like one of Lauxus' "Lightning Dragon's iron fist" punch to the face. He appeared to think about his next words really carefully as he tried not to sound insensitive or anything.

"U-Um...I've got a favour to ask, Luce."

Lucy brightened up instantly and furrowed a brow at him.

"Sure. What is it?" She inquired.

Natsu stayed silent for several lengthy moments until he finally spoke and gave the most strangest request that Lucy didn't expect —not in a million years.

"Well, if it's okay, I would like you to tell me about your mother."

Lucy was stunned into silence. Did Natsu just ask...for her to talk about her mother? Her eyes were wide and her jaw had hit the floor. She felt her heart plunge hard into the pit of her stomach and she tried her best to contemplate properly on what was just asked of her. She could see that a natsu had noticed her dumbstruck expression and quickly decided to explain, blush lines marking his face as he appeared to be quite flustered.

"I-I-I never really had a mother. I just had Igneel. When I was little and was hanging around with the other children at the guild, they would talk about their parents and the lives they led before they joined Fairy tail...and I wanna have an idea what having a mother is like."

Lucy pondered on Natsu's for a moment. She never thought he'd ask about her mother before but, like he had said, he never really had one...or at least one that he could remember. She didn't really see any harm in fulfilling his request and she even thought that it might had been a good idea; today should be about remembering the good times she had with her mother and not about being sulky and depressed about it. She managed to smile a sincere, heartfelt smile at him as she took his hand in hers.

"Okay..."

Then she started to tell him about her childhood, especially about her mother, Layla, before her father became negligent of her.

It was unbeknownst to them that they had a certain little blue cat spying on them.

Happy flapped his wings delicately as he kept himself airborne using his Area magic, relishing the sensation of the cold evening air blowing in his face and rustling his cobalt blue fur. He knew he shouldn't be spying on his two "bestest" friends like this but he couldn't help but feel concerned when Lucy had ran out of the guildhall in tears and knew that he had to follow and make sure that she was alright. He had looked almost everywhere in Magnolia before he found both Natsu and Lucy in the meadow.

He flew high in the air and observed the two of them below him and he grew curious but he didn't want to risk disturbing either of them because they appeared to have been having a moment so he drew closer _oh-so_ slowly and made sure to be quiet. As soon as he got close enough he decided to watch them for awhile. He observed whilst the two wizards sat side-by-side, hand-in-hand as Lucy told Natsu stories of her life in the Heartfilia mansion.

Happy smiled softly, he could feel his heart swell when he saw this lovely view.

"They looooove each other."

* * *

 **A/N: Here's a Nalu story for you lot, sorry it took so long. Just as I was about to finish this I kind of got Writers block, which was especially aggravating! I still enjoyed writing this, though, and I do hope you guys like it. I guess this could be considered a Mother's Day fic...a REALLY early/late one.**

 **I hope you guys enjoyed it.**

 **Dont forget to review and fave!**

 **-Chloemcg**


End file.
